


Hard Choices, Deep Regrets

by paintedfoxx



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/F, just a lot of angst, my take on how i think things ended between them, raven has to make a choice, summer and raven get into a fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27588116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedfoxx/pseuds/paintedfoxx
Summary: “Run away with me.”Though her eyes were closed, she could practically hear Summer’s smile. She cracked her eyes open, and the bed shifted as she glanced down at the woman in her arms anyway. Though it had been expected, Raven always found herself breathless at such an unguarded expression of happiness.“And where would we go?” Summer responded, her tone heavy with amusement. Her lips were curled into a teasing smile, and Raven fought the urge to kiss it.OrRaven wanted to run away with Summer, but she wanted to stay. Things quickly get out of hand, and Raven is left with the consequences.
Relationships: Raven Branwen/Summer Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Hard Choices, Deep Regrets

“Run away with me.”

Though her eyes were closed, she could practically hear Summer’s smile. She cracked her eyes open, and the bed shifted as she glanced down at the woman in her arms anyway. Though it had been expected, Raven always found herself breathless at such an unguarded expression of happiness.

“And where would we go?” Summer responded, her tone heavy with amusement. Her lips were curled into a teasing smile, and Raven fought the urge to kiss it.

“Anywhere. Anywhere you wanted. Think about it. Just me and you, no one to tell us what to do, no responsibilities, we could do anything we wanted,” she murmured. She watched as the smile slowly faded, replaced by a tiny frown. A concerned crinkle marred her forehead. Again, the urge to rub it away struck Raven, and she fought it down.

“You’re serious about this.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

“Raven, we graduate _tomorrow_. This is everything we’ve been working toward…”

Instead of a reply, Raven blew out a sigh, and carefully disentangled herself from the other girl. She sat up, running her hands over her face. She could feel Summer’s silver gaze on her, but couldn’t meet it.

“Hey, don’t,” whispered Summer. A gentle hand reached up, brushing the hair from Raven’s shoulder. “Don’t pull away like that. We’re partners, right? We talk to each other.”

Before she could stop it, a harsh scoff escaped her, and she turned to finally look at Summer. Seeing only soft concern _almost_ made her regret what she had to say.

“You want to talk? Fine. I never wanted to be a huntress. Qrow and I came here for one reason, and that was to learn how to _kill_ huntsmen and huntresses. To protect our tribe. He might be following Ozpin around now like a lost puppy, but _I_ know what I have to do, and it’s _not_ protecting a bunch of idiots by chasing Grimm around. The tribe needs me…” Raven trailed off, the last few words only a whisper. Heavy silence then blanketed the room.

It hadn’t been her choice to come here. Attending Beacon had been her parents’ idea; the twins had been shoe-ins. Raven had protested, she would be more use to the tribe there with them, not here writing meaningless papers and learning moves she’d learned as soon as she could hold a sword. While Qrow had only gone along with it because they hadn’t had much of a choice, Raven had fought it as long as she could. Up until Initiation, when Summer, an annoying brat of a girl, had skipped up to her, weapon in hand, and proclaimed them partners. Though she was still unbearable, the girl had grown on her. She knew she had an obligation to the tribe, she had to take back everything she had learned, give them a better chance at survival. However, she found herself reluctant to leave Summer behind.

It was Summer who spoke first.

“You were never going to stay with the team, were you?” Gone was the concern from before, now those beautiful silver eyes were hard and filled with fire.

Raven steeled herself before answering. “No. This time tomorrow, I’ll be gone.”

“And Qrow?”

“The idiot will probably stay behind. He hates the tribe, wants nothing to do with them anymore. More than happy to be Ozpin’s lapdog.”

Raven glanced down as she felt Summer’s hands ball the blanket covering them in her hands, she would tense, then release; she didn’t have to touch the girl to know her body was taut as a bowstring. The silence worried her more than anything.

“Say something,” Raven pleaded, all anger from earlier gone. At the very least, she couldn’t leave with things so wrong between them. She was starting to worry if she would be able to leave at all, not that she would ever admit it.

“Were you ever going to tell me, or just disappear?” Summer demanded.

“This is me telling you now, Summer,” Raven mumbled in response, though she knew it was weak.

“Ha, yea that’s just rich, Raven. Ask me to abandon everything and just run away with you,” she laughed harshly, getting out of bed. “Why even stay till graduation, then? You’ve learned everything you need, right? Is graduation some sick joke, you trying to stick it to Ozpin or something?” She began to pace in front of the bed, anger radiating off of her in tangible waves.

“Summer, sit back down. We can talk about this,” Raven tried. Summer didn’t seem to hear her.

“What was your plan, huh? You were just gonna dip out after you got your license? When? Sometime during the party? Or were you just going to leave in the middle of the night like a _coward_?” The last word hit Raven like a blow despite being spoken in an even tone.

She threw the blanket back and climbed out of bed too. “I am _not_ a coward,” she snarled, facing Summer.

Never let it be said that the smaller girl was one to back down from a fight. Though she was at a disadvantage between the two in height, she stood before Raven all the same, pointing an angry finger to her chest.

“Cowards run. Cowards abandon their team, their _family_. Is that not what you’re planning to do, Raven?” Summer growled, her voice quickly rising.

“I’m not running! I’m doing what I have to! You think I want to leave you behind? I love you, Summer. This is the _last_ thing I want to do!” replied Raven, unable to keep her own anger in check.

She watched as Summer visibly deflated before her. Her shoulders dropped, her gaze fell to the floor, and she released a deep sigh. It sounded unbelievably sad.

At the sound of it, the fight fled from Raven’s body, replaced by a weariness that settled deep into her bones. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with Summer on what was possibly their last night together. She reached forward, and opened her mouth to say just that, when Summer put her hand up, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

“And I love you too. But, Raven, you have a choice to make,” she whispered, lifting her eyes to meet Raven’s. “I hope you make the right one.”

She didn’t say anything else. She simply turned on her heel, opened the door, and left, the door shutting with a soft click behind her.

Raven was left standing there, wondering how the conversation had gone downhill so quickly. Now she was stuck with an impossible choice, and only a few hours to decide. With a heavy sigh, she sank down onto the bed once again, dropping her head into her hands.

-

There was a gentle breeze blowing across the cliff, bringing with it the cool promise of autumn. Already the leaves were beginning to color, blazing reds, burning oranges, and glittering golds dotting the landscape below. Raven took a deep breath, steadying the storm of emotions churning deep in her chest.

“I’m _so_ sorry, Summer,” she whispered. The resulting silence from the stone memorial before her further broke something inside her. The tears that had been gathering gradually in her eyes rushed forward unbidden, rolling down her face and falling to the ground below her. It was too much, the grief, pain, anger, _guilt_ , all pressing relentlessly upon hunched shoulders. She couldn’t hold herself up any longer, and the ground rushed up to meet her as she fell, her knees meeting soft green grass.

“I chose wrong.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Some fun speculation on how things could have ended between Raven and Summer. Hope you enjoyed it!


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